Yambo

Member

Registered: 17 Jul 2014

Posts: 36

Discomfort

Hi guys
I've been using the Chesapeake 17LT a fair bit recently but not as much as I hoped I would. The reasons? As well as things like life getting in the way I've also experienced quite a bit of discomfort when paddling around. The discomfort, which starts at the back of the ankles after about 15 - 20 minutes progresses to behind the knees eventually turns into painful legs and an inability to stand easily when I get out of the boat.

It's really putting me off but I'm quite a determined critter so I'm currently trying different seating arrangements - I have a rowing machine and some different seat pads for that so I'm using them in addition to the moulded foam kayak seat I got from Fyne boats. I'm also doing a lot of hamstring stretching to try and alleviate it and I'd welcome any suggestions on what might be the cause and some suitable remedies that I can try.

Many thanks in advance for any help you can give me. 

Arne H

Member

Registered: 18 Dec 2015

Posts: 21

Re: Discomfort

Hi Yambo,

I'm also relatively new to kayaking since I finished my Chesapeake16 at the beginning of this year, and I've also experienced the problem you describe. My assumption was that it is due to me being not flexible enough and having shortened muscles/tendons at the back of my leg owing to having done a lot of sport involving short sprints with insufficient stretching for too long in my life. If this assumption is correct or not, I don't know.

In general, I've played around a bit with the position of my seat, and the position I have now (I moved further forward than I would have thought I would) at least delays the onset of the numbness by a few minutes, in comparison to the first seat position I tried. But still, every 20 minutes or so, I have to paddle with straight & relaxed legs, or still angled but not jammed in between the footrests and the shaped kneepads,  for about 5 minutes to get life back into the old legs. For those 5 minutes, I don't have the tight fit and nice control of the boat, of course. Not a problem on the small river that I go on at the moment, but when I will venture further on open sea/lakes in the future and need good boat control for longer, I also wonder how that will turn out.

Like you, I also have the general impression that after about 45 minutes, the blood flow into the legs is restricted by too hard seating, despite the seemingly soft seat and very comfortable feeling at the beginning of each trip. Haven't played with that yet, and would be curious to hear if anyone thinks this is an important factor.

Thus, so far I considered that my initial stiffness combined with lack of discipline in respect of regular stretching to increase flexibility is the culprit, but I'm looking forward to further posts in this thread to learn more! Thanks for having started this discussion, Yambo.

Arne H

Member

Registered: 18 Dec 2015

Posts: 21

Re: Discomfort

A little online searching yielded the Sweet Cheeks by Jackson - might be worth a closer look at, and they have further thigh support ideas on their website as well.

Yambo

Member

Registered: 17 Jul 2014

Posts: 36

Re: Discomfort

I've been testing my Google Fu as well Arne and found this blog

http://www.ebtc.ie/painful-numb-legs-wh … exercises/

Others suggest the seats can play a big part but at the moment more stretching is the easiest way to go. Thanks for the heads up on the Sweet Cheeks though!

Yambo

Member

Registered: 17 Jul 2014

Posts: 36

Re: Discomfort

About 2 hours in the boat today. The legs are definitely better from the stretching but now the issue is my feet, the right foot being worse than the left. They just go numb and it's not good! It's almost certainly muscular as when I get out of the boat (and fall over) I don't get pins and needles when they recover. I'm changing the stretching routines a bit - they've certainly helped with the legs and I'll keep at it.

Yambo

Member

Registered: 17 Jul 2014

Posts: 36

Re: Discomfort

Another update. Two hours straight in the boat today, a little run out round the coast, 12.6 kms the GPS tells me in 2 hours and no discomfort at all.

I'm not doing much stretching nowadays (although I suppose I should) so the reason has got to be more down to the seat which is now a 'Sweet Cheeks'! A wee bit pricey for a pensioner like myself but it has made a whole world of difference. I have one other seating arrangement to try out but I think we're just about there. At the moment the Sweet Cheeks is sitting on top of a piece of sleeping mat foam and I want to try it without that. But I'm a lot happier now!

garry66

New Member

Registered: 9 Nov 2017

Posts: 1

Re: Discomfort

Its mostly the question of getting used to the position. My first time on the boat my legs started to hurt after just a few minutes. I think that you should just bite it and keep stretching a bit. Soon you gonna be comfortable enough. Anyway you found the good solution for you so its ok.